Convenient Arrangements
by VividBlues
Summary: A noble marriage can be a dangerous game. That becomes very clear when the Shihouin House chooses a spouse for its princess.
1. Conspirations and Marriages

A.N.: Hello! I bring you my new multi-chaptered fic, and I hope I'm improving my writing skills. This one came as a result of a superficial look into the matter of marriages. And Kanika supposedly is an Egyptian feminine name meanining "dark". Leave me your review!

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Convenient arrangements

Chapter 1 - Conspirations and Marriages (Enters Urahara Nakodo)

Mansion's halls are apparently made for conspirational whispers. When the princess of the Tenshi Heisouban left for the world of the living abandoning family, titles and responsibilities, there weren't as much whispers as there were screams, some in outrage, some in despair. The noble house almost fell into ruin, prey of the general confusion and hopelessness that followed her escape. But just as weak whispers started to rise in Shihouin halls, one of the elders took the reins of the situation and held the family together in a firm grip.

Not even Shihouin Itsuki could control the whispering fit that came over the house with the princess return, though. As the Winter War came to a close and everything got explained and forgiven - with Shihouin Yoruichi herself being deemed a hero for her decisive role in the war -, there came a time to rebuild the Sereitei, and to make new plans for the future. Most of the eyes of the family turned to the Onmitsukido at this time. Now that the heir was back, what would become of the command of that organisation? Surely the Head of the House of Fon would be wise enough to return it to Shihouin hands, some said. It was not right to leave the Onmitsukido in the hands of the Gotei Thirteen, even if the second division captain had once been head of the guards in the Keigun, others would add. And she was only a Fon; she wouldn't dare go against Shihouin wishes - everyone agreed, if not in words, at least in their minds.

It didn't take much time for those whispers to reach the ears of the very people involved. A restless feeling spread through the second division as a whole as the rumors about Soifon-taicho being forced to give up the command of the onmitsukido became the hottest topic of discussion. The general disposition was that the current gundanchou was a strong and loyal leader, and while they admitted Shihouin "Shunshin" Yoruichi would probably make a good commander as well, they didn't feel it was right to accept that change. When the tense situation got to the point of some people talking about an organised resistance force, Fon Shaolin, ninth head of the Fon clan, decided it was time to do something about it. Of course that meant getting advice from her trusted master, and that was how Yoruichi got to know of those things, occupied as she had been with bureaucratic matters.

"Hm... Yoruichi-sama?", the captain, better known by her codename "Soifon", asked tentatively as the woman stayed silent for several seconds after she finished sharing her worries.

"I should have expected that. I wished so much it wouldn't happen... I'm so sorry, Soifon..."

"What are you apologising for, Yoruichi-sama? This is not your fault at all! Actually, it probably is in your right to take back the command of the onmitsukido, since you didn't have a choice...", Soifon said quickly, but Yoruichi didn't miss the way her eyes looked down with regret as she said those last words.

"No, Soifon, you're wrong. I did have a choice, and I chose to leave. That I felt it was for the best doesn't change the fact that I left of my own free will. You are the commander now, your men look to you for guidance. If you relinquished your command, they would feel betrayed again, and their honour would be hurt again, maybe without repair this time. I won't allow this."

"So, what am I supposed to do? If the Shihouin elders make a formal requisition for me to leave my post, I don't know how the men will react. They are talking about taking arms!"

"And I always heard about how strict the captain of the second is with her division. I'm sure you can control them; it's not against you they are rising. I'll try to discuss this matter in a family council; I'm ashamed to say this is the first I hear of it. For now, reassure your men all of this talk are still just rumours, and that you won't tolerate mutinous behaviour."

And so a couple more tense days passed, until arrived the day of the next family council. Every male fistborn adult of the house attended, as well as Yoruichi's mother, who was there representing Yoruichi's late father, the previous head of the house. And it was she who unexpectedly spoke the first words in the reunion.

"I know many of you might wish to discuss matters unrelated to what I'll now propose", said Shihouin Kanika, after her call for attention was heard and respected, being the princess' mother as she was, "But I see it as my duty, as a Shihouin and as a mother, to make this house stop discussing nonsense while there are pressing matters still unsolved. While the men engage in their little power games, it falls to the women to worry about the family harmony and stability. And that's why I feel like what we should be discussing today is the marriage of Yoruichi-hime."

For a few seconds the people in the room remained in absolute silence, until breaking in predictable furious whispers.

"This certainly is a grave matter, worthy of being discussed at this time, as we are working for the re-establishment of the power of our family in the Sereitei", the still strong voice of the elder Itsuki was heard, demanding attention "However, it's probably pointless to discuss this without the aid of a proper matchmaker, in which case we can leave this matter to our next reunion. I think it is appropriate, then, to discuss the situation of the onmitsukido at this time, instead."

"If I may have the word once more", said again the dark skinned woman, a mischievous glint appearing in her honey brown eyes "This house has always relied on the services of allied clans on several matters. And I felt it was in our best interest to call one of our traditional allies to help us now. May I bring in our matchmaker?"

Through all of this, Yoruichi had stayed shocked in her seat. She had had many expectations out of this reunion, but that certainly wasn't one of them. She had taken part in some arranged meetings before, but somehow she knew this time would be different; the family was serious about claiming a strong political position again, and she probably wouldn't be able to get out of this marriage if they thought it would be beneficial to the Shihouin House. Everything was so sudden! She didn't feel ready be thrown in a marriage at the time, she hadn't even considered the possibility yet. She had been so troubled by her thoughts, she only noticed the new presence in the room when their amiable voice was heard.

"Good morning, ladies and gentleman"

Yoruichi's head shot up instantly. It couldn't be. But it was. The one addressing them was the one and only Urahara Kisuke!

After the war, Urahara, Tsukabishi and all the Vaisards had been allowed back into the Sereitei, though all of them preferred to stay in the world of the living. Urahara didn't cut his ties to the Gotei Thirteen in spite of that; he became responsible for the "Advanced Research Unit" of the Research and Development Institute, and stayed in Karakura Town, in his Urahara Shoten. He often reported back to the authorities of the Sereitei, and although the onmitsukido had heavy suspicions of his activities - for example, that he might be using twelfth division resources to keep himself well-informed of Soul Society's matters, or that he might be involved in shady dealings of some products - nothing was ever proved, and he continued peacefully with his experiments. So, Yoruichi had more than one reason to be surprised by his sudden appearance during her already troubled family council.

"It's a great honour to be remembered in such important circumstances, and it's my greatest intention to be of use to this noble house as my ancestors were before me" - Yoruichi noted the bastard seemed to be amused a lot by the situation - "I pride myself on being a fairly well-informed man, and on having sufficient information as it is to propose a good match for my dear friend, Shihouin Yoruichi. I came here today to inform Shihouin Kanika-dono of the best candidates, and ended up collecting the last pieces I needed to present you the answer to all of your problems. I believe you will feel a little surprised by the person I will now suggest, but once I do, I'll make you see just how perfect this match would be. So, I think your choice for the princess hand should be..."

Just as the more impatient ones were almost telling the man to just get out with it already, a single name fell from his lips stunning everyone into silence once again.

"Soifon-taicho, commander of the onmitsukido"

"What??" Yoruichi, her mother, and some of the younger people present shouted simutaneously.

"That's what you came here to say? After all the trust I put in you?", said Yoruichi's furious mother, while the heir herself started laughing histerically.

"I assure you all of my seriousness on this matter. So, to make that clear, I'll start a little exposition of what I think are your objections to the match I just proposed. First, I think all of you are considering the fact that the commander is a woman. While that certainly never happened inside the Shihouin family before, I can show you a couple of instances when such marriages were carried out in other equally prestigious houses. In the past, it wasn't uncommon for these relationships to occur, and sometimes they even got officialised into something close to our customs. Some were born out of necessity, since for a clan with no male heirs, having the only daughter marry a man sometimes meant having the family name die in the process. And you don't have to go much back on the history of the very Fon clan to find one of those marriages."

"Kisuke, you're mad", Yoruichi said, interrupting her laughter as she realised the man was actually serious.

Urahara's only answer was a large smile as he went on. "Also, you might object that a Fon wouldn't be a good match for a Shihouin. I'll remind you now of two things: first, there are not many high noble candidates at this time; the best option would be a Kuchiki, but the current Head of the Kuchiki house do not have siblings by blood. And I think you'd agree that there would be grave political repercussions if the two houses merged, which I also think wouldn't be in your interests. Second: this particular Fon is at the moment the commander of the onmitsukido as well as of the second division, making her a worthy candidate by itself. And even if the Shihouin House managed to get the control of the onmitsukido back without a bloody war - which is highly improbable, at the rate things are going - but even if you could, most of its higher ranks are composed of second division officers, loyal men under the command of Soifon-taicho as well. So, you see, if you want the onmitsukido back, that might be the only diplomatic option. And you even get your influence on the Gotei Thirteen back as a bonus. And one last thing: as all of the Fon, Soifon is highly loyal to the Shihouin house, and would probably accept this arrangement completely."

As Urahara finished his exposition, most of the audience was still stunned into silence. There were a few whispers and some snickers here and there, but even those stopped as Shihouin Itsuki made himself heard once again.

"We should consult the fortune-tellers. If they confirm the good fortune of such marriage, it is my opinion that the marriage should happen" - his words sounded final, and none of the other elders could find a reason to go against them; if such marriage could be blessed by the heavens, how could they not bless it themselves?

Shihouin Kanika visibly wasn't pleased.

Shihouin Yoruichi pinched herself; maybe she was only sleeping.


	2. Good Fortune?

A.N.: New chapter up! Urahara is one interesting (aka: crazy) individual.

Something I forgot to say: the translation for "Bursting Out" is up too.

Ah, and I don't own Bleach. Not the one with a capital B, at least.

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Chapter 2 - Good Fortune?

A strangely dressed man walked calmly out of the Shihouin estate. To any person who might have been watching him in that moment he would have looked as though he didn't have a care in the world; actually, he even had a slight smile on his face as he made his way home. No one was there to see him out, though, as the family probably had still much more whispering to do before they could care for such trivial matters. Or so it seemed.

"Urahara Kisuke" a stern voice called, accompanying the sudden appearance of a person obstructing his path.

"Hello, Yoruichi-san" he replied, and had the good grace of looking a little scared of the serious look he was receiving. "I didn't think we'd have the time to catch up today, so I was just going back now."

"Cut that, Kisuke. Do you realise you managed to make everyone take seriously the utter madness you just spewed? What were you trying to do?"

"Yoruichi, from the moment your mother asked for my help up to this very moment I'm talking to you, I never took your situation lightly, if that's what your thinking" he said, completely serious.

"I still believe you are too smart for that", Yoruichi replied, an even more dangerous glint appearing in her eyes. "That's why I want you to tell me what reason could you possibly have to do what you did."

"I'm relieved to hear that, but I don't think you are able to see just now the logic behind this event. I suggest you calm down first, and think about it."

"Think... about it. Until there's no more time left and this terrible mistake is carried out. I thought about it, Kisuke, and the only reason I see for this is that you didn't want for your suggestion to work. But it worked, and what am I supposed to do now?" she asked, sounding more desperate with each word. "You could have suggested anyone, for heaven's sake! Why didn't you suggest yourself?"

"You are wrong" Urahara said in his misterious way as he unfolded his fan in front of his face. "Both of us know you'd get married no matter who I suggested, for that was your mother's wish; they'd simply find a better candidate if they didn't like mine. That's why I needed to make my opinion count. I couldn't just suggest anyone, not even myself. I had to make the best choice I could; I meant what I said, and I was also thinking of you."

"You really are crazy, then. So what, you just found me the perfect little subservient wife instead of some stupid lazy ass who would certainly feel the need to rule over me? Was that what you're thinking? What about her? Did you think about her at all?"

"Hm..." Urahara hummed, a slight smile appearing as he lowered his fan. "I don't think it'd make any difference to you now if I said I considered Soifon-taicho's situation as well. So, if you don't plan on killing me yourself right now, I'll ask you to let me go before your mother beats you to it" he said, the jovial tone returning to his voice.

Yoruichi just stood with an unsettled expression as Kisuke passed by her on his way out. She could only watch his retreating form until he reached the gates and stopped momentarily.

"Anyway... the choice is not made yet. Perhaps you should just trust your good fortune, Yoruichi-san" were his last words before vanishing in a flash-step.

"I swear it, Urahara Kisuke. If this marriage is declared of good fortune, you'll get what you deserve for this little stunt. From me. Personally."

* * *

After that historic family council, the different members of the Shihouin house went their different ways about making sure the unexpected marriage happened, or not. At this time, though, another word should be spared on the subject of rumours.

Often, rumors have a strange way of spreading quite literally at the speed of sound, and reaching quickly everyone in a perimeter of dozens of kilometers except for the specific person they are about. Said person often notice something is off soon, mainly because of the tendency a gossiping group have of falling dead silent at this person sudden appearance. Soifon wasn't lucky enough to get this hint, though, for if any group of people fell dead silent upon her arival at any time, this could only be interpreted as usual behaviour. Some of the more intimidating capitains experienced that as well inside their divisions, but for Soifon, this was the general way Soul Society as a whole treated her; people always had a habit to fall silent as soon as they set eyes upon the commander of shinigami assassins and spies.

But maybe it was for the best that she didn't hear this particular rumour from her own men; it would probably have been difficult for her to maintain her cold-blooded captain reputation otherwise. So, at this stage, she was probably the only person in the onmitsukido that ignored the fact that the Shihouin family was planning her own marriage to their princess.

"Do you really think she accepted that?"

"What other choice would she have?"

"You're kidding, right? She's Soifon-taicho, for crying out loud! They could all gain a pretty tattoo for trying to force her into this... this... this farce of a marriage!"

"You don't know the captain well enough if you're saying something like that. She is the head of the house of Fon, she is highly loyal to the Shihouin."

"That means nothing! Why didn't she just turn over her command, then?"

"I don't care for any of that political crap you're all discussing. If they marry, I won't ever need any other nighttime fantasy in my life."

"Eww, that's just gross."

"Actually, I see his point. Our sexy captain married to the goddess..."

"Are you people completely crazy? What if she hears you! You're much more likely to get that pretty tattoo of hers."

"But assuming it does happen, what would happen to us? Would the Shunshin become our commander as well?"

"I'd follow her to hell and back, that's for sure."

"I don't think it works like that"

"Who are you to tell?"

"I admit this is a extraordinary situation, even more so because the onmitsukido was never under the command of anyone but a Shihouin. I suppose things will only be normal again when they have kids."

"What? Ha ha ha ha ha... they are even having kids, already!

"Is it even possible? If they adopted, it would end the Shihouin blood lineage."

At this point, there where at least ten different people speaking their opinions about the rumoured marriage, but that would have been hard to tell since they were all dressed so similarly and everyone had a black cloth covering their mouths. All of them went silent though when an older sounding voice spoke from the back.

"They wouldn't need to adopt. It's possible for them to have a child of their own."

"You are delusional, old man!"

"I'm not. We shinigami are not like the living; but it's normal for someone from Rukongai like you not to know that. Only nobles are able to have children, have you never noticed?"

"Uh... no...?"

"That's why I tell you, noble women have a different way of getting pregnant."

"And which way is that, if you are so wise?"

"That I don't know, I'm not a noble either. But I'm sure of what I'm saying, I've seen it happen before."

"Yeah, yeah, we believe you, all right."

"I actually am a member of a noble house, and I never heard of that either."

"But I'd be surprised if you even heard how babies are made the conventional way, ha ha ha..."

"Shut up! The gundanchou..."

And there she was, walking near them in the direction of her office. She didn't pay them any mind, though.

That was close.

* * *

Since for adequate fortune-telling conditions it was necessary to have a full moon out, the decision of wheter or not to try to make Fon Shaolin bethroted to Shihouin Yoruichi was postponed for a whole week. In that week, Yoruichi did all she could to make the family see the absurdity of such marriage, but even if she managed to get the pity of some - poor Yoruichi-hime, stuck with marrying a woman, they would say -, the elders had been effectively convinced of the benefits exposed by Urahara. And even though her mother looked positively revolted at the idea of such marriage, she was never seen doing nor saying anything against it.

So, it was with a unusually distressed appearance that Yoruichi witnessed the moment of the truth, when it would be decided if the family would really try to go through with the marriage. And all in name of something as untangible as the Fate. Yoruichi couldn't bear the irony of the situation; could it really be Soifon's fate to be enslaved by her family from the beginning to the end of her life? Yoruichi didn't believe it for a second, but she knew she probably wasn't even dealing with real "fate designs" in that instance. The fortune-tellers certainly wouldn't present an answer that didn't satisfy the Shihouin elders. It was a lost cause.

Was it, really? "Please, don't let me destroy her life like this... I can take being traded like an object... I always knew it would happen... I can take this humiliation if it is with anyone else, but not with her, please...", Yoruichi begged silently as the announcement was ready to be made; she didn't know who she was directing her plead to, nor did she care. There are moments in life, when something we don't want is close to happening, that we firmly believe anything else would be better, be it true or not - and we always believe we have a good reason to think like that. This was one of those moments for Yoruichi, and only later she would let herself just think, like her friend advised her to. But, first, the fortune.

And it was good as predicted.


	3. Truth Hurts

A.N.: The good news are coming out! We start to see some Soifon in this chapter, and might see more of her on the next. Stay tuned!

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Chapter 3 - Truth hurts

The Shihouin didn't waste any time in sending their messengers to the Fon with the bethrotal proposal; they were afraid the princess would do something to prevent this from happening. After the fortune was read, though, Yoruichi just fell into a contemplative mood, and the next morning found her simply watching silently as said messengers left the Shihouin estate to fulfill their mission.

She hated to admit, but truth was, Kisuke had been right. She had been far more revolted at the idea of marrying in general than at the idea of marrying Soifon specifically. When she realised her friend, and her family, for that matter, had been serious, she just felt like fighting with whatever argument came to mind first. But now that she thought about it, if she had to marry, perhaps Soifon really was the most obvious choice, since Yoruichi at least liked and trusted her. Perhaps she should actually be grateful to Kisuke for making that a possibility.

"As if. I know that bastard always has his motives, but one day I'll find them out", she thought, remembering the misterious look he had in his eyes when she asked why he didn't choose himself.

Still, she thought, that didn't change the fact that she once again was interfering with Soifon's life in a grave way. Soifon didn't deserve to be treated as a toy by the Shihouin. Not when she worked so hard to become who she was today; not when she fought so hard, and fought alone. What right did she have to come barging into the young captain's life like that, after all that happened, just because it was convenient to her and to her family? Worse yet, she knew Soifon would simply accept it, just like that. One thing was becoming clear after all that contemplation: Yoruichi would have to talk to her about it, the sooner the better. And when she realised that, the first thing that came to her mind was the image of Soifon on her knees, crying and begging her for an answer that she kept to herself, for it had been too difficult to give - those few words that were so simple yet so hurtful: there was no reason to.

Once again she distracted herself thinking of how she'd get Urahara back for that whole mess as she realised part of the reason why she didn't want to marry Soifon was because of her own cowardice.

"Well, the time to run is over".

* * *

It was about early afternoon when captain Soifon of the Second Division noticed something was completely wrong with the people of the Sereitei. Instead of averting their eyes as she passed by them on her way to the first division, people were looking straight at her - frankly staring - and some even had the nerve to point at her as they talked to whoever was closest. She tried to ignore them as she thought furiously over what could they possibly be talking about. Had she forgotten her haori? No, she surely was wearing it. She once forgot to wear it outside of the second division and got a similar reaction from people; she made sure to never make the same mistake again. Whatever was causing it this time, though, she would certainly find out before the end of the day. But first, she had a meeting to go to.

Only three other captains arrived before her at the meeting, unsurprisingly, and they were the captains of the fourth, sixth and seventh divisions - not counting the sotaicho. Soifon was irritated to discover Komamura-taicho also thought it was a good idea to keep staring at her as she took her usual position by the first division captain's right side. She didn't say anything despite that, and the silence went on for a few more minutes as one by one the other captains took their positions.

"Abarai-taicho, I don't think you're going to be of much use to this meeting if you're only going to keep gaping at me the whole time" - Soifon said in a dangerously low tone, when she couldn't take the sight of the man across from her anymore. "I demand an explanation to the rude behaviour I'm being subjected to since I entered this place."

"Soifon-taicho, if you're going to completely defy Sereitei's traditions, I suppose you must bear with the consequences" - was Kuchiki-taicho's collected answer.

"What did you say?"

"Now, now, Soifon-san, he just meant we are a little bewildered at your situation, that's all" said the voice of Kyouraku-taicho, one of the people who insisted on stealing glances at her from time to time, which was getting a little ridiculous, since he was not in the best position to do so.

"And what is this 'situation' you mentioned?"

"Come on, taicho" - Abarai said, apparently feeling more courageous after his previous captain "defended him" - "you know what we're talking about. Are you really gonna marry Yoruichi-san?"

"WHAT?", Soifon nearly screamed, her hand flying to Suzumebachi's hilt by reflex.

"I'm so sorry for arriving late, Yamamoto-taicho!" - Hisagi-taicho said a little out of breath after barging in the meeting. "Things are just hectic at ninth division, we are surrounded by shinigami wanting the truth about Soifon-taicho's marriage. Maybe I could get an interview later? You know, for the Sereitei News?", he asked, giving her a pleading look.

"Marriage?! Where is all this nonsense coming from?!"

A high pitched laughter echoed then. "How interesting. Looks like she is the last one to know about her own engagement to Shihouin Yoruichi. Some onmitsukido captain she is" - Kurotsuchi's malicious voice taunted.

"Can we please get on with this meeting? There's much work to be done today in tenth division."

"I don't think Soifon-taicho is in the right state of mind to be participating in any meeting now", said a gentle voice from her right side; Soifon could only stare in confusion at Unohana-taicho as she wondered if everyone had just gone crazy.

"Hm. I don't think anyone here is in the right state of mind for this meeting. I advise Soifon-taicho to go back to her family home, and everyone else is dismissed to go back to their own divisions. This meeting is adjourned." Yamamoto-taicho announced.

"What a damned waste of time" growled Zaraki-taicho.

"Soifon-taicho? About that interview?" asked Hisagi as she just passed by him with a cold look in her eyes. "... okay, nevermind". He said to no one, shivering.

* * *

As Soifon made her way to the Fon estate at full speed the only thing on her mind was how was she going to ask her family if they knew about that ludicrous tale of her being engaged to Yoruichi-sama. Yes, because she didn't want to sound stupid or mentally ill, so sure she was that all of that had absolutely no basis in reality. So it was with much surprise that she got home to the sight of her assembled family politely engaging the very own Shihouin princess in small talk.

"Y... Yoruichi-sama?"

"Shaolin! Is that any way to greet your family upon your arrival? And how many times have we told you not to refer to..."

"Shh. Let's give the two some time alone for now; Shihouin-dono has been waiting for a long time, and they probably have much to talk about."

As the Fon quietly left the room, Yoruichi motioned for Soifon to sit in front of her. "So, have you heard the good news?", the princess asked with an ironic grin, trying to ease the tension between them.

"I'm not sure I understand, Yoruichi-sama..."

"You're not sure? Then I guess you do, after all."

"How... why... is it true, then?"

"If you're referring to our supposed engagement, I assure you we cannot be engaged without your approval. But it's true my family sent official messengers to your family today asking their permission for me to marry you" - Yoruichi said, watching as Soifon started to blush furiously, her expression exactly the one of someone who was just punched suddenly in the stomach.

"I... I don't get it... why?"

"That's the wise diplomatic solution the Shihouin family found for the Onmitsukido dispute."

"I see. It's hard to believe, but if that's the wish of the Shihouin..."

"Look, Soifon, I came here today because I need to discuss this matter seriously with you. I want you to be honest with me, because I'm not about to force you into something as important as a marriage, taking advantage of your loyalty."

"I understand, Yoruichi-sama. And you should not be forced to marry someone like me either."

"This... this isn't about me, Soifon."

"So, you don't care?"

"Of course I do care. I've been thinking about this situation non-stop since the suggestion first came up, and I realised if I had to choose someone to spend the rest of my life with, then it might as well be you, my dear friend, who I love and trust" - Yoruichi watched with relief as Soifon's expression softened, her face blushing slightly once again. "But I won't agree to that until I find out for sure if that's acceptable to you."

"I'm honoured to hear those words, and I'd be even more honoured to marry you, Yoruichi-sama. If you got permission from my parents, you can inform your family of our acceptance to their request" Yoruichi noticed Soifon's eyes had a distant look as she gave this answer, and wondered what was she really thinking.

"I know you, Soifon, and that's why I don't believe you yet. You are not being open and honest about this yet."

"You believe that I lie? Am I not allowed to take this rationally? Am I the one who needs to be more honest about this?" - Soifon asked unexpectedly, sounding more curious than angry.

"... You're right. I'm saying this because... I believe you have reason to not trust your life to me like this, though I assure you I never meant..."

"Yoruichi-sama, I'm sorry for talking like this to you, and for interrupting you, but you're talking about my stupid question, and about my stupid behaviour when we met after all those years. And I need you to know this: you think I've changed, but I'm exactly the same person I have always been, and under the same circumstances would probably commit the same mistakes I once commited. But we can't have the same circumstances anymore; things change, if people don't. That's what I believe in, and that's why I tell you I'm ready to trust my life to you, if you want me to. I don't need you to prove anything to me, and I don't need you to tell me why you left me behind anymore; I figured it out long before asking you that. So, if you truly are here to tell me you want to spend the rest of your life with me, I can honestly say I would be happy to spend the rest of my life with you as well."

Yoruichi couldn't fully understand Soifon's speech right then, but she understood one thing: the woman was determined to take that engagement as seriously as she took everything else in her life, and she was firm in her decision depite the short time she had had to think about the situation. Yoruichi hadn't expected this at all; she had come prepared even for more tears and awkward emotional outbursts. No, the calm and composed woman before her definitely wasn't her little bee; she had changed too much. Why had everyone suddenly decided to make Yoruichi feel as if she was the only one left out of a secret?

"I'm really sorry to interrupt, Shaolin-dono, but one of your officers is determined to see you at all costs."

"Let them in."

"Soifon-taicho! Oh, I'm so sorry" her fourth seat said as she saw Yoruichi in the room.

"Tell me what this is about. Quickly."

"It's the third seat, he's acting like a mad man and causing a commotion in the Sereitei; Omaeda-fukutaicho is nowhere to be found, and our men aren't able to contain him..." she trailed off, apparently scared to complete her report.

"What else?"

"He's saying things about you, captain, screaming outrageous things for all the Sereitei to hear..."

"I have to handle this matter immediately. I'm sorry for leaving you like this, Yoruichi-sama, but we'll talk more later, if you want."

Many times, the truths that hurt the most are the really simple ones. That was one thing Yoruichi realised along with another part of the real reason why she had revolted against the idea of marrying Soifon: she had never wanted to see the distant look in those once devoted eyes as she accepted her proposal just like she would any other duty.

Just business, that's all.


	4. What they say

A.N.: I think I'm coming up with a flu... and I still don't own Bleach. Nothing else to add, I guess.

* * *

Chapter 4 - What they say

"Why do you hide yourself now? Is that all you are good at doing? I can't hide it anymore, do you hear? I won't hide it anymore!"

As she followed her fourth seat in the direction of the growing sound of a desperate voice, Soifon kept her mind completely blank. She couldn't think about the ironic twist her life had suddenly taken, not when she had Yoruichi-sama at her side - the princess insisted on coming along to help. She had come very far in her attempts at appearing strong and collected about everything; she couldn't fail now and once again appear weak in front of her master. If she thought just then about how Yoruichi-sama had been able to discuss that marriage with her in such a calm, rational manner, she would surely lose it, and Soifon was certain the princess would be greatly disappointed to see her inconvenient tears once again.

Keeping under such control all the unsolved conflicting feelings battling inside of her, there was no way the captain could focus on the matter at hand either, that being the sudden mental instability of her third seat. She didn't even think about what exactly could be waiting for her in the middle of the crowd composed of curious shinigami and perplexed onmitsukido soldiers. Had she thought it over, still she wouldn't have been able to imagine the true nature of the situation she would deal with.

"Why don't you show yourself for once, taicho!", now the voice of the man was clearly recognizable above the noise of the other people. "Why don't you tell them about us, about our passionate moments hidden in your office at night?"

At this, the onmitsukido once again charged as one trying to capture him, but he was able to fend off the attack without even drawing his zanpakutou. The man had been in charge of the Maggot's Nest for many years, it was not surprising they couldn't capture him sooner. His words, though, had the power of awakening a quick sucession of reactions in his captain: first the shock, then, furious anger, and last, assassination mode. The target was going down. In less than two seconds, she managed to submit him in the ground, forcing his head back and searching his eyes for signs of intoxication.

"Haa... haa... you can't... marry that woman, taicho! I'm the only one..."

A sickening sound was heard as she rendered the officer unconscious after finding none of the signs she was looking for; if he was intoxicated, it was not by any common drug. "Take him to confinement. What are all of you standing there for? Back to work, now!", she commanded, and no one was stupid enough not to run as fast as their legs could carry them. That is, no one except for a Shihouin princess, who stared at her with the most stunned expression she had ever seen in that confident face. "Yoruichi-sama! You... this... you can't...", she tried to say while feeling her face grow hotter than she thought possible.

Yoruichi couldn't take it anymore. And what would it matter? There was no one else there. "Oh, my...!" she almost choked, laughing out loud, tears of mirth starting to form in the corner of her eyes. "You should have seen your face just now! It was priceless!"

"Yoruichi-sama! This is a serious situation!" she said, even more embarassed, but the princess didn't seem to be paying any attention.

"Oh, I'll remember this forever! And the look in your eyes just before you shoved him to the ground... Soifon, just don't kill him, ok?"

* * *

Shihouin Yoruichi might have found the incident hilarious, but it didn't sound so much so to the Shihouin house in general. She discovered that upon returning home, having left a still flustered Soifon to handle her division. The captain promissed to contact her once everything was under control, and Yoruichi reluctantly agreed to leave her, as she had been having so much fun teasing the girl once again. But not very long after she entered the mansion in a rather cheerful mood, she heard an angry feminine voice shouting inside one of the rooms.

"This is a disgrace, why can't you just agree with me? That's what happens when you try to take into family a person who has no right to be at our side! That's what happens when you go against tradition!"

"From what I've heard, the captain's reputation has been perfect until this incident, and the officer was described as mentally unstable and possibly..."

"Possibly what? Possibly acting under someone else's orders? Is that what you're going to say?"

"No, I was saying he possibly might have harboured hidden feelings for his captain, and got desperate when he heard she was getting married. However, since you mentioned it, this might be indeed the work of someone trying to damage our family's reputation..."

"This is ridiculous! Isn't it obvious that Fon girl was sleeping with the man?"

"Kanika-dono, please, calm yourself down. I'm being patient with you because I understand your worry on your daughter's behalf."

"I am sorry elder, but I can't allow this shameful situation to go on any further. There's still time to pretend none of this ever happened; we still haven't got their answer..."

"Yes, I got their answer." Yoruichi interrupted, trying to keep her anger from showing. Her mother had never really cared too much for her, and now she thought she could use her "motherly concern" to insult Soifon? It wasn't her, hers nor Yoruichi's, fault that the marriage had even been suggested. She could blame her own motherly concern for that.

"Yoruichi?"

"Do you really think I'll agree to go back on my words like this, making it look like we believe that silly boy?"

"You're taking this much too lightly. How can you be so sure he wasn't speaking the truth?"

"This marriage was not my idea, but I won't let it end like this. And that is because I've known Soifon for a very long time; I won't accept anyone else's words if she denies them."

"But can't you see? What does it matter if it's true or not; our name would be soiled should you marry that person!"

"If we go back now, the only person who will suffer for this incident will be the very one who is being thrown in this arrangement for the convenience of our family. If we keep our word, we'll show we are above such petty incidents, and that we don't just take important decisions without proper consideration, one way or the other." Yoruichi replied, not hiding a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Then I suppose the answer from the Fon was positive?" interrupted one of the Shihouin elders.

"Yes, they agreed to the marriage. They'll send an official communication tomorrow."

"Then I propose we decide on a date for a betrothal ceremony once we receive their official answer. We must treat this matter more carefully from now on, so there's no need to rush things."

Yoruichi felt strangely disappointed at those words; but she soon thought it was because she just had nearly ten days full of troubles and headache, and they weren't even engaged yet. She wasn't sure they would survive until the wedding day. "Who can tell? Maybe it'll be worth it", she though smiling slightly as she remembered how Soifon endured her merciless teasing with a flushed face, trying to stay serious at all costs. Her smile was short lived, though, as she suddenly remembered a pair of distant gray eyes gazing into her own.

"I tried, but you really seem intent on destroying this family" - were her mother's final words before leaving impetuously the room.

* * *

"Taicho, a seated officer from the fourth requests an audience with you"

"Omaeda, I already told you no one but me will see that man today. I don't care if he's sick or poisoned, this is strictly second division's affair."

Omaeda's eyes widened and his jaw dropped at his captain's choice of words. Before he could make any stupid comment, though, he felt the heavy reiatsu leaking from his furious captain, and that helped him focus on his troubles once again.

"B-but taicho! What should I tell him? He says he came following direct orders from Unohana-taicho!"

"Can't you do anything on your own?! It's your own laziness and incompetency that let this situation happen!" - there was no way she was going to let anyone from another division talk to her third seat before she could interrogate him. Yoruichi-sama might have thought it all a joke, but when one of the onmitsukido high ranks decides to go around defaming his commander, something much more grave might be afoot. She wasn't one to defy Unohana-taicho's wishes, but in this case, if she was so interested, she would have to come in person. And what did the healer think would happen, it was not like Soifon was torturing him.

"I'll tell him, no problem, taicho! Second division affair!" - Omaeda said, trying to run before his legs failed him in front of his captain.

"Wait!", she said, making him turn to her again, trembling slightly and looking stupid as always, and she didn't know where the thought came from, but she felt very relieved then it hadn't been him screaming those things about her. "When you're done with the fourth division officer, bring the man to the interrogatory room. At this, Omaeda visibly gulped (in sympathy, maybe?) and left to carry out his orders.

How many hours had passed since her day started to go from normal to possibly the craziest she had ever experienced? Maybe it was a good thing that incident had happened, after all; she didn't know how much more she would have been able to take of Yoruichi-sama exploring all of her weaknessess in her kind and thoughtful way. She even tried to apologize for leaving her all those years ago, when she clearly had meant no ill by that action. It hadn't meant anything to Yoruichi-sama at all, not where Soifon was concerned. And now that she had been ready to admit that, the captain didn't want to hear it anymore. She couldn't hear it, not when she was trying so hard to accept she was going to marry the princess, but just because it was a "wise diplomatic solution". When she heard Yoruichi-sama confirm the marriage proposal, Soifon felt like her greatest dream had suddenly came true, and a dream she hadn't even been aware of having before. She would never have imagined such possibility, and she was happily comformed to living the rest of her days just protecting Yoruichi-sama like she once promissed she would. But now, she was going to live with the irony of being married to the person she loved more than her own life, only to have that love go unreciprocated every day. Yoruichi-sama had wanted her to refuse, she noticed that. Probably because she couldn't refuse her own family herself. But how could she refuse? How could she turn her down, specially after she was told the princess wouldn't mind spending the rest of her days at her side? And maybe, it had been her egoistical side who spoke to her in that moment: "if you can't have her, no one else can". And maybe, it had been her foolish side who spoke to her in that moment: "maybe you can make her love you as you love her one day". Either way, she tried to be honest about her acceptance: while she still was the same flawed person she had always been, she left behind her childish fantasies and she understood Yoruichi-sama better now. That way she could be stronger, and not let her down once again.

"Taicho! The interrogatory room is ready!", a positively irritating voice interrupted her jumbled thoughts.

"Then go take your position" - better to do it before the ninth division decided to ask for interviews as well, she thought.

She knew it wasn't going to be easy; her third seat was a specialist in interrogatories. She decided the best approach would be the direct one; she tried for five minutes to get him to talk, to explain his reasons, to say anything, but he would just sit there and look down. It was a total waste of time. He knew every trick in the book, and if he didn't want to talk, he simply wasn't going to. There was no point in insisting, so she decided he might change his mind with a little more time in confinement.

Just a few hours into that arrangement, and she couldn't belive the amount of trouble she had in her hands. Was she even going to survive until the wedding day? "Probably not", she thought, blushing faintly as she remembered the teasing face of her future wife.


	5. Half Asleep

A.N.: Sorry for the delay! Between writer s block, the end of the semester and the chatbox of doom, this became a hard chapter to write. Thanks to all who encourage me to keep writing this.

I still don't own Bleach, and sometimes the names of the original characters are taken from people that I know in real life, so I don't even own those either, haha.

* * *

Chapter Five - Half Asleep

The floor wasn't interesting anymore, so he just went back once again to staring at the ceiling. He knew he was going to spend a long time there, so he was avoiding looking at the walls - just so he would have something new to look at when he couldn't stand it anymore. Maybe he was already going insane.

He didn't dwell too much on the question of his possible insanity, though; he preferred to reevaluate his own life from the beginning instead. He wondered if, being meticulous and dedicated enough in that task, he might be able not to finish it before the time came for another interrogatory. But most often than not his thoughts would be interrupted by his initial realisation upon being thrown in that maddening place: how ironic was that, that the supervisor of the whole prison system of the Soul Society was now locked in one of its own cells?

Before he was the third seat of the second division of the gotei thirteen, though, he was Ishii Kenji. And with that thought he returned to figuring out how he ended up where he was.

That there was a secret society inside the very own onmitsukido wasn't really a secret to most well informed shinigami. Even Soifon-taicho, who never acknowledged it, must have known about the rumoured fan club part of her men were members of. What most people ignored, though, was that the innocuous fan club was not the only secret organization inside the division of spies.

There were two moments in onmitsukido recent history that prompted its members to get organised in associations to secretly defend their views. The first one was when Shihouin Yoruichi became captain of the second division, which inevitably created some power struggles between the onmitsukido and the gotei thirteen shinigami. Their dispute was silently - and sometimes violently - solved many years before Soifon-taicho was named commander, but somehow the "Tulip Squad" still remained as a united group. Their members were mostly recruits fresh out of the academy who chose the second division but weren't members of the onmitsukido. They were invited in by the few surviving members from the second who also weren't onmitsukido soldiers, and the main goal of the association was to fill as many seated positions as they could with their members.

The second moment was when Soifon-taicho assumed the command of the division and of the onmitsukido. The Fon weren't the only lower nobles that served the Shihouin family by joining the onmitsukido. When the command of the organisation left the hands of the Shihouin, the "Higher Guard" was formed by soldiers that had been loyal to the Shihouin, and still wished to follow their orders.

And how did Ishii fit in the middle of that entangled political game? As a double (triple, or whatever multiplier necessary) agent in the service of his captain. There was no one else inside the division who knew more of its members activities than him, and if one of them ever got locked in the Maggot's Nest in the past fifty years, he certainly had been involved in the case personally. While everyone feared Soifon-taicho, no one suspected the eyes of the chief warden were the ones watching them. And that's how the captain came to value so much his skills and, eventually, his advice on internal matters. But Ishii had weaknesses too, and the one that would eventually lead him to ruin would be the misplaced love he developed for his commander.

* * *

"So, Juushiro, you really won't tell me what you think about the marriage of Yoruichi-san?"

"Shunsui, please, stop insisting in this matter. I know you're excited about all the gossip potential it has..."

"Gossip? You're mistaking me for someone else. I just can't help but worry about our young colleague, Soifon-taicho. She's going to face some hard times, but when love's involved, what can be done?"

"When love's involved... I just worry about the other interests involved in this beside love."

"What are you talking about, Juushiro? Back in the time, you agreed too that those two... I just never thought Yoruichi-san'd actually..."

"You know what I'm talking about, Shunsui. And I think I'm too old for a political war between nobles and the gotei thirteen; actually, I think you're too old for this kind of thing too" - he said, finishing with a small smile.

"Haha, come on, Juushiro; you're spending too much time in this solitary garden, it's not doing you any good. Tonight, we'll go out and breathe in the fresh air of Rukongai, and you'll help me figure out what we should give them on their wedding!"

* * *

"Mayuri-sama?"

"What took you so long, you useless piece of crap? And what are you still waiting for? Come here, already, let me take that blood sample!"

Nemu was made intelligent enough to notice her father had been even more agitated and angry than usual in the last few days, though she really didn't know why. To her, it didn't make any difference what the reason was, anyway - the only thing she could do was try even harder to please him and not be the cause of his anger herself.

"Bloody stupid woman! It's like I said! When am I ever wrong, Nemu?" - he said, as the strip of paper he dipped into Nemu's blood turned a bright pink colour.

"You're never wrong, Mayuri-sama."

"Mayuri-taicho, the report on the recorded activities of the first four divisions is already on your desk" - one of the many screens in the lab announced, showing the image of one of the twelfth division officers.

"Bring it to me, Nemu! Now!" - he yelled, and two seconds later the document was already in his hands. "Are you becoming slower with each passing day? I can't deal with you right now! If you're broken, just go fix yourself!"

Was she broken? From her records, she could say she moved faster then than any previous version ever did...

"Damn all those meddling bastards!" - he said, reading the last page of the report. "Nemu! Bring me the last test tube!"

* * *

"Hey, I didn't know people just laid around all day in this division."

"Shut up, Ikkaku. I'm so sick of having nothing to do."

"First off: it's Madarame-taicho for you. And I know you're loving all this time without battles to mess up your pretty hair."

"Fifth division must be really busy, then, Madarame-taicho, if you came all this way just to compliment my splendid hair."

"What? I didn't come here to talk about your hair, Yumichika! You should be thanking me, I figured you'd have nothing better to do, so I came by to ask you to lend me a hand with my division."

Yumichika just laughed in his conceited way. "And what makes you think I'll accept that?"

"You just said you want something to do, so let's go already."

"Oh, can't any of the captains take care of their own subordinates anymore? What can I do? I think I'll help."

"You talking about that crap that's going on in second division? You know, I think they gave something to that guy, to make him do that. It's Soifon-taicho he messed with, you know? And now the onmitsukido made him disappear..."

"Well, intoxicated or not, do you think there's a chance that he was speaking the truth?" - Yumichika asked, and the two stared at each other for some seconds.

"Nah...", they said at the same time.

* * *

Everything was just so confusing... every time he came close to remembering why he was there, so many strange memories came up that he didn't know which were real, which were dreams. He could remember... she told him... she used him, didn't she? She was in trouble... she said... he had to help, he was the only one who could. And that's because... she loved him...

CLANG

The loud sound of his cell being opened brought him back to the present, and he quickly jumped from his bed, expecting to see the guard who took him to be interrogated last time. He was surprised that they came already; he didn't think he had been alone for that long. But he didn't understand at first what he saw at his door, and he couldn't contain his surprised exclamation when he finally recognized his visitor.

"Captain?"

* * *

In a quiet morning, on the day after the first interrogatory of her third seat, Soifon was informed Unohana-taicho was waiting to see her. She couldn't believe she really came to ask her about Ishii. Why wasn't she allowed to deal herself with the problems of her division?

"Good morning, Unohana-taicho. What can I do for you?"

"I'm very concerned about the health state of your subordinate, third seat Ishii Kenji, as you may have guessed, and I came to ask you permission to see him."

"I see no reason for you to waste your time on this case, Unohana-taicho; he's in perfect health, our best healing kido casters made sure of this."

"I'm trying to help you, Soifon-taicho; your division doesn't have the equipment for all the tests necessary in his case. He might have been under the influence of a new substance, and I think you'd agree that no efforts should be spared in detecting it."

Soifon tried to keep herself from asking if what Unohana really wanted was to make sure the onmitsukido hadn't yet killed the man for his unacceptable behaviour.

"I have an idea. You'll just take me to him, no official permissions involved, so I won't be interfering in your authority over your division. What do you think?"

They soon reached the cell Unohana-taicho wanted so much to visit. Soifon, just like any person who knew the fourth division captain, clearly understood that she was a person that never really made suggestions, so she didn't need to be asked twice. "Better get this over with", she thought, as she opened the cell herself, "and prove to her the man is alive and..."

All her thoughts stopped as she stared for a second at the image in front of her. Quickly, she scanned the room for something she knew she wouldn't find; vestiges of an intruder. She looked back at the macabre sight in the back of the cell.

Her third seat was on his knees, a white sheet wrapped firmly around his neck, the other end of it wrapped around the bars on the little window in the back of the cell. To all appearances, he hung himself to death.


	6. Drawing the Line

A.N.: Okay, finally, chapter 6. I'm really sorry for not updating it sooner; but now maybe I'll be able to write more. Thanks to everyone still reading and reviewing this!

I'll be using from now on the official romanization of Soifon's name, but I probably won't change her name on previous chapters and fics any time soon.

Oh, and a bit of very old news: my fic, "Sleeping Beauty" has a brilliant visual adaption by Kittenable on deviantart. Check it out (if you didn't see it already months ago...)!

* * *

Chapter 6 - Drawing the line

Having a person in her care turn up hanged in their cell could be quite frustrating for even a captain as cold and restrained as Sui-Feng. The members of the second division knew things were definitely getting out of control the moment the lockdown orders signed by her were made public. Not only were they prohibited to leave the second division grounds (all missions were cancelled until further notice), also they couldn't be seen in any form of unofficial group activity - meaning, no more than two people could be seen together at any time, and even then, only when strictly necessary. The onmitsukido members were temporarily forbidden to wear their masks, and most of their missions was interrupted as well. And everyone (except the few lucky ones out in missions at the time) was assigned dayly physical training from dawn to dusk, all supervised by their lieutenant.

And where was the captain? From the lowest ranks to the lieutenant himself, every second division or onmitsukido member was used to having the strict, unforgiving leader always watching them and calling them out on any mistake they committed, to the point were many of them were nearly paranoid. Now, though, all they saw of their captain was a few glimpses here and there. And if possible, that made the sense of paranoia start to spread even faster - if they couldn't see their commander, that didn't mean she couldn't see them, so they all seemed to reach an unspoken agreement to work ever harder just in case. At the end of the week, when the non-stop vigorous training started to get to some, the first real piece of news from the outside reached them in the form of the Sereitei News - the only publication allowed inside the second division grounds then. And what they discovered would make them train to their limit every day for years, if necessary, if only to prove the superior strenght and discipline of the second. Their captain needed them, and the division would survive no matter what. This was not about personal struggles and interests anymore. It was about pride.

* * *

A high pitched laugh was barely contained by a weird man in a white haori outside of the assembly hall in the first division.

"Laughing?", a deep voice taunted from behind the twelfth division captain. "Can't see why. Didn't get what you wanted, did you?"

"I have better things to do anytime than to hear your nonsense, you stupid oaf. Nemu, we're off."

Zaraki Kenpachi was never one to care about other people - except, of course, the little girl always riding on his shoulders - but it somehow bothered him to see weaklings and freaks like Mayuri using cowardly methods - politics, of all the stupid things he was supposed to endure as a captain - to bring down warriors like the second division captain. Was it respect, or maybe sympathy, he was feeling for her? He didn't know, but he knew he felt disappointed to have never had an opportunity to fight the girl. He was sure she'd give a good fight.

"Heh, you're not any good in a fight, and seems you're not good enough for the sotaicho either. You said you wanted it, and he still gave the second to midget captain.", he said in his loud voice even as the other captain made his way out of the first division.

"You think I care about that stinking division?" the other said, just as Zaraki thought he would just leave without responding. "You are funny in your own way, I'll admit. But even funnier will be to see the arrogant little bitch playing babysitter. Wait, maybe she's the one with a new babysitter? Either way, it's very amusing. I don't need to care to have a laugh at her falling from grace."

"Oh yeah? Looks like she's going down with a smile on her face, too."

Just then the scientist captain realised someone was trying to come through the door he was standing in front of. Someone with a slightly sadistic smile. Against his will he tensed and sombered his expression.

"Are you moving today, Kurotsuchi-taicho?", said Sui-Feng-taicho in her usual arrogant tone.

"Move, Nemu! How many times do I have to say it!" he shouted as he left, ignoring the captain. "Arrogant little bitch", he thought to himself again, trying to forget the piercing stare of dulled steel.

* * *

"Why do I always have to get the jobs no one else wants? Why?"

"Oh, my poor captain, this is not true. Kurotsuchi-taicho wanted it, didn't he?"

"Please, don't try to comfort me, Matsumoto. You're suffocating me."

"Sorry!"

"And it's even worse that he wanted it. The last thing I want is to get on the bad side of that person. Why can't I just run my division, and have some peace of mind for a change! Second division doesn't need supervision! If the sotaicho wants to replace Sui-Feng-taicho, he should just do it!"

"Come on, captain, you can't mean that. Sui-Feng may be a little cold, but deep inside she's a good person. I'm sure you two will get along. And while you're supervisioning her work, seeing as you're both such solitary people..."

"Matsumoto...". The temperature in the room started to drop threateningly.

"Oh, how could I forget! She's engaged now! But no one can control their heart... isn't this how all the mess started in the second? An office romance..."

"Matsumoto!"

* * *

"I thought I told you not to kill the man, Sui-Feng"

Startled seconds passed while the small captain tried to make sense of the unexpected appearance of the black cat on her window. It was night already, another night in that neverending nightmare that started a whole week before.

"You know I'm kidding, Sui-Feng, come on. You can't take everything so seriously."

"I'm sorry Yoruichi-sama, but I don't see how I could not take this seriously. That man... inside the Maggots Nest... I don't see how..."

"Calm down... I don't understand half of what you're saying right now."

"Yoruichi-sama, I knew my third-seat. I know this shouldn't count, but you don't understand, I really knew him... he wouldn't just... kill himself"

It was lucky she was in cat form, as cats don't usually show much emotion on their feline faces, even surprise. But what her friend told her made her realise something she never really considered: Sui-Feng indeed had some kind of deeper connection with her deceased third seat. But right now, what bothered her was what her friend didn't tell her.

"This shouldn't count? If you can't know your subordinates, Sui-Feng, you can't be a proper leader. If you say you knew him, you need no better reason to believe he couldn't have done it."

"I... we can never really tell what a person can or cannot do, Yoruichi-sama"

That was it. She was closing herself off again. But Yoruichi saw it, for a brief moment. On top of all the trouble the captain was facing, she was personally hurting for the loss of her third seat. For the loss of the soldier, or for the loss of the man... her friend, maybe?

"Anyway. Let's say he didn't commit suicide. What happened then?"

"There's no other way. No one could get inside that cell, much less come and go without being detected at some point. No one. That is, no one other than a second division third seat, of course." A new sparkle seemed to enter the captain's eyes as she ended her phrase.

"Go on", Yoruichi, the cat, encouraged, a tingle running down her spine at the turn the conversation was taking.

"When it all started, when he got mad, and went screaming those things about me... I didn't know what to think. But now, things are getting another proportion entirely, Yoruichi-sama. Did you know that the Gotei thirteen is going to intervene in the onmitsukido from now on? Did you know the tenth division captain was given authority over the second yesterday?"

"Yes", she limited herself to say, clearly unhappy about the situation.

"I failed my duties once again, Yoruichi-sama... but even if they take the title of captain from me... I know now that I'm fighting something much bigger, and I know exactly where to start my investigation. You... don't need get involved in this."

"I am involved already Sui-Feng, I hope you didn't forget?" she said, telling herself Sui-Feng was saying that to protect her, not to distance her. "If you did, I have some news for you. We are to have a betrothal ceremony. How does a month sound for your preparatives?" said Yoruichi, finally revealling the reason for her visit, and getting once again on a happy mood at the sight of the reddening face of the other woman.

"Are you just joking again, Yoruichi-sama?" she asked, after several seconds of thought.

"No."

"Should we really... bring more attention to the marriage?"

"Why shouldn't we?"

"Because... maybe... it'll be called off? I mean... when I lose my title"

"You're not losing anything, Sui-Feng, we'll make sure of it. And besides... it'll be fun, you'll see. We'll have to find you appropriate clothes..."

"Yoruichi-sama, this time I know you're making fun of me. You know what's going on, and you probably think it's suspicious too how it all started after the announcement of our marriage. What I'm not sure of is... what exactly do you think of it. I know you agreed to it, because of your family, but I'm just asking you to think it through again, because you may lose more than your time if this goes wrong..."

"What would she do if she knew I'm the one who insisted to go through with the marriage?", thought Yoruichi, but decided not to tell her about it. Their relashionship was already too complicated without her knowing; even Yoruichi didn't completely understand why she did that. "Look Sui-Feng, if you are unsure about it, you can tell me anytime. But if what you're afraid of is damaging my reputation, I'll tell you again: we'll get over this, together. We'll find out what's happening, and you won't lose your position. So. Maybe you could start by telling me who is this big suspect you were talking about earlier?"

"As you wish, Yoruichi-sama", Sui-Feng said, and Yoruichi just didn't cringe because cats don't. "The name I've been thinking of is... Urahara, obviously".


	7. Come Anytime

Okay, sorry for the long wait, but life's been really crazy these days. Hope this turned out okay, I got soo tired writing it! I'm out of shape...

For the record, the third seat has the name of a person I know in real life.

And Bleach still isn't mine

* * *

Chapter 7 - Come anytime

Being a shopkeeper wasn't that far from Urahara Kisuke's ideal lifestyle. Everytime he saw a satisfied customer off he felt a sense of accomplishment for being able to so easily give people what they needed in change of the honest money now sitting in his cash register. Another good point was that as clientes came and went they often brought with them news of the world or of their own lives that, while entertaining, never really disturbed the little world he chose to live in. It was times like these it felt good to pretend his harmless shopkeeping was his only occupation.

That particular morning, though, as he sat down behind the counter and reached for the only magazine he bothered to read, his eyes didn't roam the front cover with the usual detachment, and his lips didn't form the usual carefree smile. Coincidentally, the cover displayed the picture of the person he most expected to see the past few days. While his eyes registered the written words, his brain didn't process what otherwise would have been funny to read; all he felt was a sense of forewarning.

And as soon as he realized he wasn't imagining the presence of his old friend in the world of the living, the black cat entered his shop with all of it's feline elegance. "Good morning", he greeted, with his cheeriest voice. "What can I do for you today, Yoruichi-san?" he asked as the cat took seat atop the crate Jinta forgot to put away.

"I'm out for some candy. Do you have the new Chappy brand?"

"New? It's been out for a few months already. You should come more often"

"Not the old one; that's not the one I want"

"Hmm... I don't know which one you mean. Hold on, I'll take a look at my newer merchandise"

"I know you'll find it. I can always count on you, can't I"

"Oh, yes, here it is. So, you'll be taking it yourself, or should I deliver it?"

"It's a little more complicated than that. See, I've been craving for a new flavor, and you're the man for the job. Think you can do something with this?"

The cat somehow produced a tiny fragment of stone from between its claws, and Kisuke's eyes flashed with sudden interest. He took the item from Yoruichi, thousands of questions running through his head at the same time, making him forget the initial aprehension her appearance caused him.

"Wha..."

"I'll be back for it later"

"But if you could just tell me..."

"Don't worry, you'll find it out. And if you don't, then it doesn't matter", the cat quickly jumped back to the ground, then turned to look at him once more. "One more thing. When I'm back, I'll want to hear exactly what you have to do with the mess at second division. And I won't go as easy on you as Sui-Feng. Did I tell you she'll come interrogate you?"

* * *

It was too much to bear. She couldn't. She just couldn't open it. But she had to! She had to, and she'd been hiding from the magazine for at least a whole hour!

"Sereitei News", it read at the top. She looked and confirmed it for the thousandth time that morning, from the safe distance of just where her arms couldn't reach. Just below, a big picture of Yoruichi-sama, looking beautiful in a golden kimono, dominated the cover. A dark figure loomed behind her, clad in a captain's haori. Herself, apparently. The poor montage of two different pictures made her look taller than the woman in evidence. Worse than that; she could be seen in the picture looking straight at the other woman's chest. If you really wanted to see it. She looked down with a scowl, and read the big headline announcing, "Marriage of the century?", followed, in smaller print, by, "read here the whole truth". "As if", she thought, scowling harder.

She had to know what was written there, it was obvious. But she lost heart everytime she moved to pick the magazine up. She couldn't bear it. Her cheeks burned in indignation and shame just from the thought of what might be written there. No, she had to make up her mind. Impulsively, she stood and snatched the magazine from the table, opening it in the middle pages, at the same time closing her eyes hard. Nothing happened.

"Of course not. What were you expecting to happen?" she asked herself mentally, her eyes still closed. She opened them very slowly, slowly focusing a real picture of her in front of Yoruichi-sama, a few of her man standing at attention in the background. At the top of the page, the headline: "Marriage of the century? - How to marry the onmitsukido to the Shihouin family once again". To her surprise, instead of the sensationalist approach, the article took a more political tone, finishing with the question of when the gotei thirteen would intervene to assert the autonomy of the second squad, threatened by the influence of the powerful Shihouin clan.

"What the hell? Is this a conspiracy or what?". It seemed some very important people really felt threatened by the return of the Shihouin family to the power over the onmitsukido and influence in the gotei thirteen. People powerful enough to control the publications of the ninth division, to force Hitsugaya down her throat, and to kill her third seat under her own nose. There was no doubt in her mind anymore, everything was related, and maybe they had bought Urahara to their cause... which reminded her...

"Omaeda!"

"Yes, sir!" he cried, barging in the room in one second.

"Did you take my request to the first division?"

"Yes, captain! Sasakibe-fukutaicho told me Yamamoto-taicho will probably sign it tomorrow".

"Good. Now I want you to go and deliver this report to tenth division. Understood?"

"Yes, captain!"

"Go", she said, for once relieved for the efficient spirit Omaeda - and her whole division - seemed to be in.

* * *

It had been hard work, but he did it. The fragment Yoruichi gave him was made of seki-seki stone and impregnated with spirit particles that couldn't disperse. He managed to recover traces of the reiatsu from the person previously in contact with the stone, and used it to make a pill with something akin to a mod-soul, his new product for maintaining gigais in the world of the living. It wasn't exactly illegal, considering Soul Society didn't even know it existed yet.. still, it was kind of dangerous, considering the "spirit" created that way - which wasn't exactly a spirit, or soul, but more like a computer program to be inserted in an empty gigai - maintained some important characteristics of the "reiatsu donor", like personality and some sort of will, and, sometimes, the last few years of their memory. This one, though, wouldn't remember much; the sample had been too weak for that to be possible. There was a weird reading in its spiritual pressure that was interesting, though. It seemed to be altered by a contamination of some sort...

"So, how's it going?"

"Back so soon? I'm not completely done yet" he didn't sense her approach, but he was so used to that after all those years it didn't even surprise him anymore.

"Take your time. I'm done with my business here for the time being, and I'm going back to Soul Society. Before that, though, I need my answer".

"What was the question, again?"

"You're scheming something. I just hope its nothing too dangerous this time; someone died already, and it's very possible it had something to do with your marriage idea"

"You wound me", he joked, his lips curving in an amused smile. "The only thing I'm scheming is your happiness, Yoruichi"

"I'm not buying it, Kisuke. Why her, why now? It has to benefit you in someway, and you better tell me yourself"

"Why can't you see it, Yoruichi?", suddenly, the amusement seemed to leave him completely. "You asked me why I didn't chose myself. You must know... You know how I feel about you. But you don't have to tell me you don't feel the same way, I've known it for a long time"

Yoruichi was speechless. If she was honest with herself, she always suspected Kisuke felt something for her; but she never expected him to confirm it, and she had no idea how to deal with it now. And it still didn't make sense...

"So you really want to know why? It's very easy. I just made sure no other man will have the right to touch you. Satisfied?"

"You really want me to believe you armed the greatest scandal in years out of... jealousy? You're joking, right?"

"You know what your problem is, Yoruichi? You never take the heart seriously. Not mine, not yours", he said evenly, turning back to his experiments. "But you know, I don't really mind it"

"Uh..."

"I'll send you what you ordered when I'm done; don't worry about it."

"Ah... thanks?"

This didn't turn out to be the perfect day for Urahara Kisuke. He had no idea what he was working on, and he knew it was highly unlikely he'd be paid. He was suddenly informed people were dying and he was suspect number one as far as the special forces were concerned. Hard day indeed. But some habits die hard, and the client is always right.

"Come anytime"

* * *

"Sui-Feng taicho?" a feminine voice came from the open door.

"Matsumoto-fukutaicho" she said simply, noding to the woman.

"I came to collect today's report..." she said, fanning herself with a bright pink magazine and sounding throughly unconvincing. Not that Sui-Feng would ever believe the woman was actually doing her job for once; if there was one person in the gotei thirteen that could compete with Omaeda for the laziest lieutenant post, she was certainly it.

"My lieutenant already took it to..." she was saying as she finally noticed what exactly was in the cover of the magazine Matsumoto was holding. Herself. Once again.

"Oohh, did you notice it? You're in the cover of the Shinigami Women Association Monthly, captain! See that? 'Out of a fairytale: the princess and the bodyguard'. Everyone one of us girls got a copy, and we're advertising it around."

"What?"

"Tell me, please, is it true Yoruichi-san secretly calls you her little bee?"

"Matsumoto!" was all she could scream, and suddenly she felt some simpathy for Hitsugaya. The lieutenant seemed to think that was a good time to run off, though.

"Omaeda!"

"Yes, sir!", her lieutenant responded promptly from his desk.

"I want that magazine. Now."


	8. Innocence Broken

A/N: So, sorry for taking so long to update. I thought that if I held this chapter for one more week it'd have turned out better, but honestly, I already took longer with it than I should have. It was my intention to have it up yesterday, but this site didn't let me, so it seems I just gave Sui-Feng a birthday present of sorts... well, I just hope you will like it. I put a lot of work in it, I was really surprised by how long this turned out to be. One of the reasons is because some things should have happened in the last chapter, but they didn't because I was tired. And the other reason is... Omaeda. He helped me when I didn't know where to start, so I figured he should have his space. Enjoy, and please, leave me a review?

Of course, I don't own Bleach or its characters.

* * *

Chapter 8 - Innocence Broken

"Hm"

Omaeda looked up from his desk and stared at his captain across the room. She did that again; he was sure she didn't notice the small noises she was making from time to time. That must be the reason why once again she didn't tell him to mind his own work when his attention was picked by the sound of her voice.

Not that she herself was working. He was no genius, but surely her deep study of that bright pink magazine (the one with her and Shihouin Yoruichi on the cover) couldn't be work-related. And that, if nothing else, was because the thing came from the lieutenant of the tenth, and he was quickly learning the big breasted blonde could never be found near anything even remotely resembling work. Sui-Feng-taicho was lucky to have him as lieutenant, he thought; she had only asked once, and not a minute later the magazine was resting on her desk. Now, that was efficiency. The other lieutenant was nowhere as fast as he was, and probably didn't even notice he snatched the target from her as she fled to her own division.

But now he was worried about his captain. He was no genius, but it was obvious there was something wrong with her. First of all, she wasn't working. Instead, for the last twenty minutes, she'd been gazing at that magazine, a gossip magazine, and making odd little noises every once in a while. He couldn't help but be startled everytime it happened; he wasn't used to her being anything else but deadly silent in her office (except when she was scolding someone, usually him). And everytime he looked at her, she had a more disquieting look on her face. It started with an indignant frown; next, it turned to a look of deep reflexion, and so on, until he could swear he was seeing a slight smile on his captain's lips. There was something wrong with that smile. She wasn't smirking, she wasn't sneering; it was a small smile, if it was there at all. An innocently amused smile.

He was no genius, and he needed to be one to have any hope of ever understanding his captain. It was like she was always saying one thing and thinking another. Funny thing was that she looked so easy to read, but every time he thought he knew what she was thinking and tried to do something she'd like, she'd kick his ass for not doing exactly what she told him to do (usually, to keep his mouth shut and leave her alone). Women! He couldn't make sense of them. Omaeda was nearly going crazy watching his captain; the world coming down around her and she just giving that small, impossible smile probably at Yoruichi-sama's picture. She wasn't like that. She was always lecturing him about how Yoruichi-sama was wise, and wonderful, and he had to treat her with the utmost respect at all times. She was always using his money to make improvements on the division compound that he knew weren't for her own benefit, but for Yoruichi-sama's. And she was always trying to find new ways to make her pleased with the division work, but she never, ever, just sat there thinking about her (if that's what she was doing; he had no way to know). What's more, since it all started, she didn't waste one second doing anything other than trying to solve the mess the squad was in. There was nothing more important to her than the lives of the men she commanded, that Omaeda knew.

Maybe she was just tired (was it even possible for her?). He knew she was in deep trouble. And he felt anxious an lost knowing that. She had always been so strong; always in control, even in the face of the direst situations her position put her in. He couldn't help but feel hopeless against a problem even a great commander like her couldn't solve. It wasn't like she'd come to him for advice, anyway; she didn't seem to regard him exactly as a genius. All he could do was be ready for whatever she needed him for, and, right now, that meant not letting anyone disturb her reading.

"Omaeda-fukutaicho?" a small voice called him.

"What is it? Can't you see we're trying to concentrate here?" he said, recognizing the girl as the new unseated officer of the second whose job was managing the comings and goings of the central building.

"It's... I told him to make an appointment, but he insists to talk to the captain now, and he says he has the authority to enter whether I let him or not... can't the captain see him now?"

"I'll talk to him. Go back to your position", he said, getting up. "Can't they cut us some slack?", he thought, as he made his way to the entrance of the building. "He'll enter anyway if he really wants to, but if he insists to disturb the captain when I say it's a bad time... then I'm no genius, but I guess I'm a lot smarter than the little guy".

* * *

As Sui-Feng sat at her desk reading the Shinigami Women Association magazine, she felt amazed by their ability to publish such stupid thing. Her past relationship with Yoruichi-sama had been romanticized to the point that it resembled a sappy novel. And she couldn't help but think how, somehow, it was so true. She just noticed how she herself viewed her past almost the same way as the silly editors of the magazine. But she had lived that sappy novel, and she had never wanted to revisit her past and re-evaluate the events in it by the light of her newfound cynicism. Wasn't it so much easier to let the past stay in the past? When Yoruichi-sama left, that's what she had done; she buried her past and started writting a new story for herself, one where she became strong enough to capture Shunshin Yoruichi with her own hands and made her pay for her crimes against Soul Society. Then Yoruichi-sama came back, and she had to re-write that story again: Urahara was the villain who took her Lady away from her, and now that she was back, everything could go back to the way it was before. She was even starting to accept the most recent events in her life. Just like that, she was beginning to feel that it didn't matter if the princess of her novel would never return her feelings, they'd get married anyway. She was lucky, she'd never have to witness Yoruichi-sama marrying someone else.

But now, reading her own story like that, from a third-person perspective, she found she pitied the deluded little girl depicted there. The world was nothing like she thought it was. No matter how much she loved her Lady, that feeling alone wouldn't be strong enough to keep her by her side always. Actually, she wasn't sure when she started thinking of her feelings for Yoruichi-sama as romantic ones. But how could she not fall in love with her, she thought, looking fondly at a picture of her in all her power and beauty. She was perfect. Or she had been perfect, to little Sui-Feng's innocent eyes. But maybe it was time to leave the past in the past. Now Sui-Feng was the commander, and Shihouin Yoruichi was a noble who depended on a marriage with her to restore her House to its former glory. And that's the reason they were marrying; in the end, that was the reason that would tie their lives together forever. Her perfect Yoruichi-sama only lived in her childhood fantasies, and the sooner she accepted that, the less she'd suffer for it.

"I'm telling you, if it's about the magazine, I can return it to your lieutenant later..."

"Move the damn out of my way, lieutenant! I have no idea what you're talking about and I have better things to do than stand here all day listening to your nonsense!"

"But you don't understand, you can't interrupt the captain like that..."

"I can and I will; if it's before or after I get you arrested for insubordination is for you to decide in the next five seconds"

"What's happening here, Omaeda?", Sui-Feng interrupted the people arguing, wondering who'd dare disturb the peace right in front of her office.

"Sui-Feng-taicho", the kid in a captain haori greeted her with a curt nod, a relieved look coming to his features. "I have some important matters I need to discuss with you."

She didn't aprove of him barging like that in her division like he owned the place, even if he kind of did, at that point. But she wasn't about to pick a fight with him for such a trivial reason, and she had better stop wasting her time anyway. She went back to her office, expecting him to follow her. She sat back down on her chair as she motioned for her visitor to sit as well, then she told Omaeda to come inside and let the door close.

"I hope this is not about the magazine my lieutenant took from yours today; I'm sure he has every intention of giving it back soon", she said, hoping he didn't see her furtively hiding that very magazine under her paperwork as she sat down.

"A magazine? What's that talk about a magazine, anyway? Matsumoto is supposed to be working, not reading magazines... did she come by here?"

"Yes, she did", she answered, wondering what kind of a captain doesn't even have a clue where his lieutenant is half the time. "But she's already returned to her division, I suppose. If it's not about that, then what brings you here, Hitsugaya-taicho?"

"The captain general wasn't pleased about my report on second division today. He's getting impatient with how much the onmitsukido missions are being delayed by your lockdown orders."

The second division activities, along with some duties it shared with other divisions, included the storage of information gathered by the onmitsukido, and the official reporting of criminal shinigami activity and arrests. There wasn't much to report if the onmitsukido wouldn't do its work though, and there was no way to conceal that from the leader of the Gotei Thirteen.

"Is that so? Still, he holds no power over the onmitsukido, and neither do you."

Hitsugaya visibly didn't like that comment, but abstained from answering.

"He's beginning to wonder what purpose this lockdown is serving, since we haven't been informed of any progress on the investigation of the death of the second division officer, Ishii Kenji."

"Ishii Kenji was an onmitsukido officer, and died at an onmitsukido facility."

"He was also a Gotei Thirteen officer, I'm sure you know that. Look, I never..." he sighed, "I think it's just suspicious to keep them locked inside. Maybe you're trying to ascertain their innocence, but you're making it seem like you've lost control. Believe me, I'm trying to help you here."

Hitsugaya had no way to know how close he was to the truth. With the death of her third seat, Sui-Feng's misterious enemies had struck where it truly hurt; he had been her eyes and ears inside the onmitsukido. And until she found out for herself what every little faction was up to, she couldn't let them out, or she'd risk an internal war, much like the one that happened when the last commander left. It didn't help matters that there was no one left that she could trust at the time...

"You have no idea what you're talking about. You think this is about Ishii's death? Tell the captain general he killed himself in your next report. We have proof of that."

"So, you're protecting them? You don't want to imply this was an outside job, do you?"

"I told you, the man killed himself, Hitsugaya-taicho", she repeated, making him look torn between frustration and disbelief. He was deeply mistaken if he thought he was leaving her office with juicy information for the captain general.

"Then what reason could you possibly have to keep them under lockdown? You could do whatever you wanted if your job was getting done, but by delaying the missions you're just giving Yamamoto-sotaicho the excuse he wants to try meddling with the onmitsukido", and to keep using me as a means to do that, he might have added.

"If that's the problem, it's simple. I'll do the missions myself"

"Huh?" - he clearly wasn't expecting that answer. "I'm impressed by your diligence, but how do you plan to run the second and the onmitsukido and still have the time to..."

"I was under the impression you're the one aswering for second division now. Since you're so intent on 'helping me', I guess you can start doing the paperwork around here"

"What? I'm not..."

"Thank you for your concern, Hitsugaya-taicho. I'm sure you won't let the second division fall behind during your 'supervision'. I can take care of the onmitsukido. Omaeda, make arrangements for the delivery of the paperwork to the tenth division offices"

"Yes, captain!"

"Wait, this isn't..."

"Fair? If you think so, take your complaints to the captain general; he's the one who put you in charge. And before you accuse me of just dropping this on your hands, I'll let you know that I'm lending you Omaeda as well, to help you get the hang of things. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of planning to get done today."

Hitsugaya thought of protesting again, but in the end just closed his gaping mouth and left Sui-Feng's office without another word, before his situation got even worse. It was true that he was the one who'd be responsible if the reports didn't get done. What could he do? Order her around? He was in a position to do that, but theory and practice were very, very different things. Spies and assassins weren't good people to mess with, and she happened to be both, he thought, as he made his way back. Just as he crossed the gate to the second division, he met his own lieutenant, who apparently had been sweet-talking the soldier on the outside.

"Captain, did you just go talk to Sui-Feng-taicho? Did she have the new issue of the Shinigami Women Association Monthly? Little Sui-Feng looks soo cute..."

"Matsumoto, why aren't you just working for once..." he said, tiredly. Who was he kidding? Truth was, he couldn't order around his own lieutenant...

* * *

It was late at night.

Shihouin Yoruichi had woken up early the day she went to the world of the living to confront her old friend and try to get his help in solving the misterious death of the onmitsukido officer. Still, it was already past midnight and she couldn't sleep, no matter how much she tried. If there was one thing Yoruichi never had a problem with before, it was sleeping; if anything, problems and dangers somehow always made sleep come even easier for her. But now, everytime she closed her eyes, Kisuke's voice echoed in her head, as clearly as if he was standing there in the room.

"You know how I feel about you". It wasn't fair. She suspected he might feel something for her, but that's not the same as knowing how he really felt. Had he ever said anything about it? Hell, he never said anything, not even when he was supposedly blaming her for playing with his feelings. "You never take the heart seriously". His heart? If there was even an ounce of seriousness in his heart, he knew how to hide it very well. "My heart? Well, what does he know of it, anyway?", she said out loud, and when she realised she was talking to herself, she started to worry.

She was tired of tossing and turning in bed, so she decided to take a walk outside as a cat. The cool night air made her feel instantly happy and clear headed; even then, she still couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that she would marry Sui-Feng because of Kisuke's jealousy. Maybe it was a man thing she'd never understand. Somewhere along the way, she noticed she was going in the direction of the second division grounds. "Do I ever go anywhere else?", she though, and would have sighed if she were human.

She didn't care where she was going, so she just kept walking. She remembered making that same way recently, when she went to tell Sui-Feng of their planned betrothal ceremony. Just the thought of such ceremony was enough to put a smile on even her feline face; she didn't know why, but the idea struck her as specially funny. She could picture Sui-Feng there, all serious and red all over, trying to ignore the funny looks the guests would be directing at them (and failing). And she'd play the noble princess and Sui-Feng would be so very formal, and she'd have to make an enormous effort not to mess up the girl's hair everytime she stammered and looked away from her. "This time I know you're making fun of me".

She had gotten to the window to the captain's office, and she remembered the answer she got when she talked about their betrothal ceremony. "Are you just joking again?". Why would she think that? She was just... happy. Why wasn't Sui-Feng happy too? It had been sudden, but marrying her couldn't be that bad, could it? The way the girl treated her, one would think she'd be ecstatic at the prospect of marrying her...

"You know how I feel about you". No. She didn't mean it like that. She knew Sui-Feng loved her; but she didn't love her like that, did she? Why had that never even crossed her mind before? "You never take the heart seriously".

"It's not true, I wasn't... I wasn't playing...". Now she was talking to herself as a cat. She needed help. Anyway, it really wasn't like that. Sui-Feng agreed to marry her, but it was obvious she did that because of her excessive sense of duty. She shouldn't marry her if she didn't want to; if she was going to be so annoyed all of the time, she should just back out, already. She hopped off the window ledge and started making her way back; she was suddenly feeling very frustrated. Why was she getting angry at Sui-Feng now? The girl had a lot to lose in the current circumstances, and she was just trying to do the right thing. She wasn't just selling herself for some peace of mind, she was buying peace for the onmitsukido too.

Why did her heart ache when she thought of Sui-Feng like that?

Yoruichi looked back to the building, now feeling guilty on top of her frustration. She just wanted to make her smile.

* * *

The day after leaving the administration of the second in the hands of the captain of the tenth division, Sui-Feng woke up early as usual and went about her morning routine as usual. But, after leaving her quarters, instead of heading directly to her office as she usually did, she headed to the gates to the second division, to receive there the report from the officer on duty the previous night.

"Second Division tenth seat Lo Wei, ready to report the night duty, captain!"

"Proceed"

"Everything in order, no movement through the gate. Except..."

"Either is everything in order or it's not, which is it, officer?", she snapped when the man took a second too long to carry on with his report.

"There was movement over the gate, captain"

Really? How could the idiot tell her everything was in order!

"B-but it was Shihouin-dono" the man stuttered when he saw her eyes narrow threateningly. "She was a cat, we detected when she came over the gate, and analised her reiatsu to confirm her identity... but we have orders not to stop her or disturb her in any way in the second division grounds, so we just watched her come and go".

Her expression softened, and the tenth-seat looked visibly relieved. She was pleased they were able to detect her intrusion; the security of the grounds was satisfactory. "But what did she come here for? What time was it? Didn't she say what she wanted?"

"It was 0245 hours, captain. She didn't make contact with the patrol. She went to the window of the captain's office, then she made her way around and entered the building through the automatic door. We didn't follow her inside. She was there for roughly three minutes, and then left, still as a cat."

"Good work. You're dismissed", she said, still wondering what Yoruichi-sama might have been doing in her office. She needed to go to the onmitsukido as soon as possible, though; there was much to do if she wanted to execute her first mission that same day. There was no time to look back, she was running on a tight schedule; she wanted to finish everything by 1700 hours. That was when she would get her authorization from the first division if the captain general intended to sign it that day. "Well, I think Yoruichi-sama would tell me if she needed me... there's no reason to worry about that now"; and with that thought she left to put her plans into action.

* * *

It was closing time for the Urahara Shoten, and the owner himself could be seen lowering the doors while his staff was busy inside. No one saw a late customer arriving, because there was nothing there to see; for some reason, though, the weird man in green left one of the doors open and told the people inside something that made them stop what they were doing and move further inside the shop.

"Urahara Kisuke" said a stern voice that only he could hear.

"Let's come inside" he said, turning his back to the voice. "I admit I'm an odd fellow, but I'm not usually seen talking to myself. We're having a big gigai sale right now, by the way."

"I'm not here to buy any of your trash."

"You wound me, Sui-Feng-taicho. But I wasn't expecting you to come this late, so the shop is already closed for business anyway."

"Do you mean by that that you were expecting me?"

"Did I give you that impression?" he said, unfolding his infamous fan in front of his face in a gesture that Sui-Feng could only describe as ridiculous. "I have to say you're awfully good these days to approach a guy undetected... why, I only knew you were here when you said my name in that commanding tone of yours."

"You knew I was coming; that can only mean you are guilty. How did you enter the preventive detention wing? Why did you kill my third-seat?"

"Whoa, wait a moment, please! Don't I have the right to a lawyer? And why would I kill a shinigami, I usually pride myself in saving them!"

"Why don't you tell me? Maybe you're trying to bring me down?"

"Why would I do that? You and I go a way back, and I'm always cheering for you, you know? I remember the day you were promoted... I was so proud..."

"Shut up! I know why you're doing it! You're doing it to stop my marriage to Yoruichi-sama!"

"Now, now, it seems we have a misunderstanding here", he said, suddenly closing his fan and adopting a serious tone of voice.

"You don't look surprised. How do you even know we're getting married?"

"There are millions of perfectly innocent explanations for that, but the truth is even better: I am the person responsible for your engagement."

"What?"

"I said, I'm the one who conviced the Shihouin House to marry you two. I can't believe Yoruichi-san didn't tell you. And here I thought you had finally saw what a nice guy I am..."

"You're lying! This doesn't make any sense!"

"It does make sense, my dear Sui-Feng-taicho, when did I ever show you anything but my deepest desire to be your friend? Now why don't you calm yourself down and explain that third-seat situation to me? Who knows, I might be able to help... and, since now you must see that we are friends, maybe you could help me too? You know, just so that my plan of marrying you two actually comes true?"

* * *

A/N: I forgot to mention before, but Hitsugaya was attacked by fire ants upon returning to his division. I just couldn't fit that in. His condition is stable now, he'll be fine enough to do all the paperwork.


End file.
